LOVE’S REVENGE: CRUSHING MY EX AND WINNING BIG Novel

Chapter 1

The eighth year of my toxic relationship with Elias Stone.

Three miscarriages, one stillbirth, and in the end, he had me committed to a psychiatric facility for his new love.

His last words to me were, "If there's another life, I hope I never meet you again."

Boom! His wish came true… but only half of it.

When I opened my eyes, I was back to being eighteen, looking at the young Elias whose heart and eyes were full of nothing but me.

I smirked. This time, I'm gonna play the game differently!

----

The school bully was at it again, tormenting Elias Stone.

The boy's face was bruised and swollen, barely recognizable from his normally handsome features. Spit covered him from head to toe, making him look absolutely filthy.

I stood before him, my eyes stinging with tears.

He curled up, reaching out to wipe my tears away. "Don't... don't cry."

Behind me, voices filtered into my ears.

"Lily's here. She can't actually like Elias Stone, can she?"

"I bet the school queen's just being nice. She treats stray cats and dogs the same way."

"The bully must be pissed. The girl he's known forever falling for this loser? I'd be mad too."

As the boy's hand was about to touch my face, I flinched away.

He lowered his eyes and said self-mockingly, "Don't stand too close. I'm filthy."

This was eighteen-year-old Elias Stone.

That year, he lost both parents and went from being the golden boy to a poverty-stricken orphan from the wrong side of town.

Everyone wanted to kick him while he was down.

Only I, foolishly, told him, "Let's be friends. They won't bully my friends."

Back then, my smile was radiant.

I stayed by his side, threw away his foul-smelling lunch, and shared my own food with him.

I watched him work odd jobs, saw his thin shoulders bend under the weight of a few dollars, and cried helplessly for him.

I stood up to everyone who bullied him and said, "No one is allowed to hurt Elias Stone."

He always seemed cold and indifferent—acting like he didn't care about me at all.

Only in his diary, which I accidentally found, did he reveal his barely visible teenage feelings: "I like kind girls—like…Lily Taylor."

Back then, I had no idea that this humble boy would, five years later, climb out of the gutter to become the youngest tech mogul of his time.

And I certainly didn't know that ten years later, Elias Stone would choose to end my life with a bullet for his new lover.

He even said with disgust, "Lily Taylor, I hope I never meet a psycho like you in my next life."

In my previous life—

I defied my parents and secretly married Elias Stone, without even a proper wedding.

To save money for his startup, we moved to a cheaper apartment.

On moving day, Elias desperately tilted the umbrella toward me, but the rain was too heavy. I was soaked through, with water dripping from my clothes.

My eyes reddened.

Elias apologized frantically, but I gently hugged him and said, "I fought so hard to be with you. You better treasure me."

The young man, red-eyed himself, made a lifelong promise: "I will."

Actually, I lied.

That day, every billboard in the city was celebrating another girl's lavish 18th birthday. When her parents took her hand on stage, their doting smiles reminded me of my own coming-of-age celebration.

My party had been even grander than hers—my powerful father had held my hand, tears in his eyes, announcing: "Our rose has bloomed. She'll forge her own path now."

But at that moment, I wasn't absorbed in my parents' affection. Through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, I saw Elias Stone standing alone in the snow.

He held a tiny cake, and after waiting for three hours, his skin had turned paler than the snow itself.

He stood under a streetlight, watching the birthday broadcast, watching me dressed like a princess, surrounded by admirers, cutting an eighteen-layer cake.

Then, quietly, he threw away the cake he'd brought.

It had only been a joke when I'd asked him to share cake with me on my eighteenth birthday.

But on my actual birthday, he couldn't even get past the door.

When the party ended, I dragged my heavy princess dress and stood before Elias, who was frozen like a snowman.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know my parents had planned a surprise..."

Elias smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

He said it was fine, that I deserved to be that happy.

When I pestered him for a gift, he said, "I didn't prepare anything."

That day, I didn't scold him for hiding the cake he'd bought with his hard-earned money.

Instead, I placated him with a kiss. The boy's expression remained calm, but his heart raced.

I smiled and said, "That's my gift to you. And... Elias Stone, I like you."

Chapter 2

From that kiss onward, we fell in love.

And later, we got married.

During the early days of our marriage, when Elias was starting his business, he once bought me a diamond ring.

But to save money.

I returned it.

I pretended not to like it. "I don't want this diamond. I want a billion heartbeats instead."

That ring, called "Billion Heartbeats", had been his grandparents' engagement ring. Later, when the Stone family went bankrupt, their entire mansion's possessions became curiosities at auctions for the wealthy.

Because the diamond was worth billions.

It was named "Billion Heartbeats," symbolizing how Grandpa Stone never forgot his love for Grandma Stone until death, becoming a symbol of eternal love in many people's eyes.

Though it was a Stone family heirloom, Elias of that time couldn't afford such a high price.

That night, as he held me in bed, he softly said, "Lily, someday I'll personally put this ring on your finger."

Later, he finally could afford this diamond.

But… it wasn't placed on my finger.

Eight years into our marriage.

He achieved success and frequently attended high-society events. I never saw that diamond again.

Later, I did see it—on the finger of a young actress.

She smiled coquettishly. "It's just an ordinary diamond, nothing to envy."

"Mr. Stone is always generous," the host smiled admiringly. "Miss Carter, anything you'd like to say to him?"

"I want him to take me to Australia to feed kangaroos," Faye Carter said with a shy smile. "He's such a perfect partner. Meeting him in this lifetime is my greatest happiness."

In that moment.

I trembled, my gaze falling on my bare ring finger, and I laughed bitterly.

This was the eighth year of my secret marriage to Elias Stone. When I first found strands of hair on his clothes, we had our first fight.

His expression was cold. "Lily, I work myself to death to support you. Stop being paranoid."

Later, he came home later and later. On his birthday, pregnant with his child, I sat alone at the table I'd prepared, calling him repeatedly.

I calmly asked, "Do you remember what day it is?"

Suddenly, a flirtatious female voice came through the phone, calling him to blow out candles.

Finally, Elias spoke: "I'm busy. Get some rest."

The moment he hung up, I knew the person who once promised to love me most in this world had disappeared.

Later, my child was very understanding—he left again. I lay on the operating table, my body ice-cold, while the waiting room TV broadcast news of Faye Carter winning three major film awards.

She raised the trophy and jumped into the arms of a man in the audience. She giggled, "My new wish is for you to stay with me forever."

Everyone envied her.

Envied her for having a devoted, successful tycoon supporting her from behind.

But she didn't know that before her award ceremony, I had messaged Elias.

Asked him to come to the hospital for my surgery.

Finally, after our long cold war, he replied.

"Lily, find a fresher way to lie. I'm tired of your games."

He thought it was another trick to get him to come home.

He didn't know that day the doctor had given me a death sentence: due to habitual miscarriages, I could never be a mother again.

The surgery was successful that day.

A nurse brought me a yellow rose, smiling: "Mrs. Stone, today is your birthday. Wishing you eternal happiness."

I froze.

Then held that rose and cried.

How had Lily Taylor, who was so happy at eighteen, become so miserable ten years later?

When the mistress was at her most brazen.

I faced the media, showed our marriage certificate, and tore off the mask of this pathetic marriage.

Chapter 3

Faye Carter was vilified online, crying her eyes out.

Elias felt sorry for her. He forced me to apologize, told me to stop acting crazy.

He said, "Lily, don't be so vicious! You know her career means everything to her, yet you deliberately destroyed what she values most."

I refused to apologize.

I sneered, "Does her career justify her shamelessly wrecking my marriage?"

This statement enraged Elias.

He slapped me. "You don't even have a career. How could you understand her?"

Such simple words devastated me.

He knew I had always been ambitious. When I dropped out of school to support his startup, I never said it, but I was heartbroken.

Later, when his business succeeded.

I wanted to go back to school, but accidentally got pregnant. Elias was excited like a child, holding me and asking if I preferred a boy or a girl.

I forced a smile.

The college applications on my computer were abandoned overnight. Compared to the joy of having a child, the regret of fate's cruelty seemed greater.

Later, I couldn't carry that child to term either.

And my education was never mentioned again. My former professor tried to persuade me multiple times before giving up and blocking my number.

Now, Elias's slap woke me up.

I realized—

This had to end.

I looked at him like I was looking at a wasted youth. "Let's get divorced."

"You make mistakes and still have the nerve to demand things." The man laughed cruelly. "Dream on."

He was ruthless. He forged fake medical records and had me committed to a psychiatric hospital.

He even instructed the director not to release me.

Later, on the hospital TV, I saw him embracing his terrified mistress.

They still looked sweet together.

His expression was dignified as he announced to everyone, "She's just too kind, which is why that psycho Lily Taylor bullied her. The slanderer is now receiving treatment in a mental institution."

Countless people sympathized with Faye Carter, while I was labeled "crazy," "stalker," and "vicious."

I laughed.

Smashed the TV.

Blood ran down my hand. I vaguely remembered that year when Elias was bullied and I bandaged his wounds, saying, "Elias Stone, you'll be amazing someday."

Now, the prophecy had come true.

But what about you, Lily Taylor?

You've lost everything.

That hospital imprisoned me for three years.

Later, Elias took me out to sign divorce papers. He thought I was already mentally incapacitated and couldn't understand the "leave with nothing" clause in the agreement.

His mistress was pregnant.

In that billion-dollar luxury car, Faye Carter carefully protected her swollen belly, deliberately showing off in front of me.

She said, "Honey, the baby's kicking. Comfort him."

Elias bent down, smiling as he gently stroked her belly. Looking up, he saw my eyes had lost focus, and he was extremely satisfied. "She's really gone crazy."

Later, I found an opportunity to approach that woman. I pushed her down hard and kicked her belly.

I hit her frantically: "Miss Carter, being a mistress has consequences. The karma just came late."

Later, she miscarried.

To save her life, her uterus had to be removed.

Elias hated me thoroughly. I suffered beatings and torture that felt like retribution.

...

Under daily torment, I had gone insane long ago. I rarely distinguished between reality and memory.

My memories remained stuck at eighteen, clinging to the Elias who tormented me, constantly asking, "Will you join me for cake on my coming-of-age day?"

Elias's expression faltered.

He laughed sarcastically. "Lily Taylor, you think you can humiliate me again?"

I acted like I didn't understand.

Kept asking over and over, until Elias frowned, annoyed: "Fine, as you wish."

Hearing the satisfactory answer.

My eyes curved in joy as I fell into a deep sleep. Even my dreams were sweet. In the dream, someone seemed to caress my face, like the cherished feeling I'd experienced long ago.

On my twenty-ninth birthday, he took me to Texas where guns were legal.

When he put the gun to my head, I became lucid.

I tried to grab his gun but was violently knocked down. The man pressed the cold gun against my forehead.

His gaze was vicious. "Lily Taylor, I hope we never meet in the next life."

A loud "bang".

My brief life ended.